Dell Inc. hasn’t detailed its integration plan for Quest Software Inc. employees and business lines, but an internal memo surfaced hinting at minimal changes for rank-and-file personnel.
“Do No Harm” topped Dell’s priorities in a short memo it sent to Quest employees this month. That would seem to indicate lower-level managers, engineers and sales and administrative personnel won’t see big changes after Dell finalizes its $2.4 billion buy for Quest.
The transaction is expected to close by October.
Quest has almost 3,900 workers, 600 of them at its Aliso Viejo headquarters. The company was Orange County’s third-biggest software maker with $857 million in sales in 2011.
Some overlapping positions are expected to be axed, along with some product lines, considering Quest offers more than 200 products.
Its software manages and improves on other business products from Redmond, Wash.-based Microsoft Corp., Oracle Corp. in Redwood Shores, New York-based IBM Corp. and others.
“I wouldn’t expect them to make substantial changes to Quest,” said Jason Noland, senior analyst in the San Francisco office of Milwaukee-based Robert W. Baird & Co. “Dell doesn’t make the employees move to Austin.”
Dell, the world’s third-largest computer maker, is based in the Austin, Texas, suburb of Round Rock.
The integration of rank-and-file employees appears to be going much smoother for Dell than its dealings with Quest’s executive ranks, according to sources privy to those discussions.
The Business Journal this month reported that some top brass at Quest, including Chief Executive Vincent “Vinny” Smith and Vice Chairman Doug Garn, may not be part of Dell’s integration plans.
Shayne Higdon, Quest’s senior vice president and general manager of client management and performance monitoring, also appears likely to exit.
Comarco Appointment
Comarco Inc., a faltering Lake Forest-based maker of power adapters, has appointed a longtime Orange County executive with deep regional ties as board chairman.
Louis Silverman, who led Irvine-based healthcare software maker Quality Systems Inc. during a growth spurt in the 2000s, takes over the top board position as Comarco undergoes a turnaround.
“We’re really rebuilding, and Lou brings some pretty good expertise in growing companies,” said Chief Executive Tom Lanni.
Under Silverman’s watch Quality Systems grew from a market value of roughly $42 million in 2000 to $1.2 billion in 2008. It’s facing tougher times these days as its market value has sliced in half this year to $1.1 billion.
Comarco is undergoing a major shift after “some tumultuous times” the last 18 months, which included an executive shake-up and a renewed focus on its core business of designing and developing power adapters that charge laptops, iPods, cameras, cell phones and other mobile devices.
“We spent the last year reinventing our strategy and reducing our expenses and overhead,” Lanni said.
Manufacturing is primarily outsourced to Murrietta Circuits in Anaheim. Its products sold under the Lenovo brand are made in Asia.
The company sold off its wireless testing business in 2009 and a unit that made freeway call boxes in 2008 to solely focus on adapters. A product recall two years ago with its largest customer, Anaheim-based Targus Inc., the top maker of laptop bags, backpacks and related computer accessories, nearly crippled Comarco.
“Without revenue we were bleeding cash pretty heavily,” said Lanni, who took the helm a year ago amid sweeping management and board changes pressed by investors.
Comarco came in at No. 2 on the Business Journal’s 2010 list of fastest-growing public companies in Orange County, posting 228% revenue growth for the three years through June 30. It went from $3.8 million in revenue for the 12 months through June 2008 to $37 million.
Sales plummeted to $8 million in its most recent fiscal year, ending Jan. 31.
“The board represents a lot of the investor base,” Lanni said. “None of them have the expertise or executive leadership to get us to the next level.”
Comarco is traded on the Over-the-Counter Bulletin Board under the ticker symbol CMRO.
Toshiba Marketing
Toshiba America Information Systems Inc. in Irvine is spearheading a marketing campaign aimed at reaching high school and college students as they go back to school.
Toshiba America, the digital products, imaging and telecommunications-systems arm of Toshiba America Business Services Inc., posted a handful of YouTube commercials touting Toshiba’s latest generation of ultrabooks, tablets, flat TVs and other devices.
Toshiba America, which sees annual sales of roughly $1 billion and employs 300 people in three local offices and 3,000 companywide, is ultimately part of Tokyo-based parent Toshiba Corp.
The YouTube promos feature the Excite 7.7-inch and 10-inch tablets starting at $450; the 13.3-inch Portégé Z935, touted as the world’s lightest ultrabook at 2.5 pounds ($900); the 14-inch Satellite U845 laptop ($900); and 24-inch HD LED TV with a built-in DVD player, which retails for about $330.
Other products include the Camileo Clip camcorder that retails for about $110 and an all-in-one desktop starting at $600.
